Flex your green thumb not your wallet

During a time when the term “disposable income” is becoming lost, it can be hard to justify spending money on something like a garden. However, with some preparation and planning you can flex your green thumb while keeping more of the other green securely in your pocket.

Stacy Clark, of Smith’s Landscaping in Columbus, offered a few ideas to help you build a yard you can be proud of, not only as a place of beauty but as a solid investment.

A job well done

Many people are quick to criticize our Lowndes County Sheriff’s Dept. and the 911 crew when they mess up, but not too many give them praise. I would love to do that. I don’t know who does the hiring for the department, but the man knows people.

Circuit Court hands down sentences

The Lowndes County Circuit Court went into session this week, with a docket that includes more than 500 criminal cases for the term, many of them drug related.

Leigh to head Aberdeen School District

ABERDEEN — The Aberdeen School District has selected Chester Leigh to be its new superintendent. Currently the principal of Aberdeen Middle School, Leigh will replace Superintendent George Gilreath, who resigned his position, effective June 30, after little more than a year at the helm of the school system.

Noxubee County among MDOT’s Safe Routes to School funding recipients

The state’s Safe Routes to School Program has received a funding allocation of more than $3 million which will kick-start projects in 14 communities throughout Mississippi.

Monroe Co. authorities bust up alleged meth lab

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Cigarette prices rise on Friday

JACKSON — Mississippi’s cigarette tax increases to 68 cents a pack Friday, culminating a years-long battle to generate more state revenue and discourage people from smoking.

Republican Gov. Haley Barbour — who vetoed previous cigarette tax-increase bills — on Wednesday quietly signed into law the 50-cent hike the House and Senate approved last week. The old 18-cent-a-pack tax had been the same since 1985.

WARC receives Gold Risk Management Award

The West Alabama Regional Commission was recently awarded the Gold Risk Management Award at the 2009 Annual Convention of the Alabama League of Municipalities in Montgomery, Ala.

Reeves promoted to Cadence Bank branch loan officer

Columbus Banking Center President Jim McAlexander recently announced that Kacie Reeves, of Columbus, has been promoted to branch loan officer for the Columbus main office.

Thanks from Habitat for Humanity

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the ladies who participated in Habitat for Humanity’s National Women Build Week on Thursday, May 7.

Beckwith helps MCC win region by swinging bat

William Beckwith picked a good time to start swinging a hot bat for the Meridian Community College baseball team.

Beckwith, a 2008 graduate of West Lowndes High School, went 12-for-18 with eight RBIs in four games to help MCC win the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament at Baton Rouge, La., last weekend.

“I’d been waiting for that to happen,” Beckwith said of getting hot at the plate. “It felt great because I was helping my team get wins. (The ball looked) like a beach ball. It was a great feeling.”

Harris hopes to get ball in title game for MCC

Garrett Harris is looking forward to pitching for the University of South Alabama baseball team.

But before he does, his focus is on taking care of unfinished business at Meridian Community College.

Harris, a 2006 graduate of New Hope High School who has signed with South Alabama, welcomes an opportunity to pitch for MCC in the NJCAA South Central District Tournament.

Murder trial for Caledonia man postponed

The trial of a Caledonia man charged with his wife’s murder has been postponed until August.

Vacant school building moves closer to landing job-training tenant

The now-vacant Union Academy building on 10th Avenue North is one step closer to obtaining a new tenant after the Columbus Planning Commission unanimously recommended a motion to change the facility’s zoning classification.

CVB inks deal to occupy new downtown building

The Columbus Convention and Visitor’s Bureau will be calling a brand new building its new home. Paperwork was signed Thursday to relocate the entity from its present building near the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library on Seventh Street North, to a new building currently being constructed by developer Mark Castleberry on College Street behind the Tennessee Williams Welcome Center.

Area Arrests: 5-13-09

The following felony arrests were reported by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office:

Area high schools to hold graduations

Area high schools will be holding commencement ceremonies in coming weeks. Their schedules, by county, follow.

Rob Hardy: Compelling historical narrative of Spartacus exciting, satisfying

You know the name Spartacus, probably from the many fictional descriptions of his life, especially Kirk Douglas playing the title role in the 1960 film by Stanley Kubrick. There are novels about him, too, and a ballet by Khachaturian. Ronald Reagan was no scholar of Roman history, but in an address in Britain, he referred to the rebellious slave Spartacus as a symbol of the fight against totalitarianism. Spartacus’s name seems as if it will resound forever, and so a case could be made that we ought to know more about him than the “facts” presented in a Hollywood biopic.

The budget, please: Legislature needs to pass long-overdue budget

A state of limbo. That’s the best description of the effect of the Mississippi’s Legislature’s failure to agree on a state budget has on education, health care and other essential services. The House and Senate need to get over their differences and pass the budget. They need to do it when they resume their protracted annual session May 26.

Columbus schools announce parents, teachers of the year

Eight parents in the Columbus Municipal School District Monday night were recognized for being the “best of the best” during the past school year.